The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

I am late to the game, but that has nothing to do with the fact that everywhere I've gone to look for the ship they haven't had it. I found that video above and apparently that was purchased two years ago. Like I said I've had this pre-ordered on Big Bad Toy Store for a long time and it gets continually pushed back for some reason without explanation. Entertainment Earth is another site I use and the same deal. I saw it on Forbidden Planet and yep...delayed. So I don't think it's on the market...or else I would have gotten it a long ago lol.

Chem was correct that it did have an original release...but the ones I've seen online seem to be like a back order or "newer" release that just gets delayed.

@Captain Craig...yes Amazing Spider-Man is the banner for all the 2012 variants now. There are movie specific figures but they're also releasing other variants much like the Marvel Studios movie figures did. For example, there was a Winter Solider figure available in the First Avenger line. There will be Venom and Green Goblin in the Amazing Spider-Man banner line.

^
I hope you can somehow get one pretty soon. Whenever I get something I hate to have to use a pre-order. For one I'm just terrible at waiting and have the patience of a hyperactive kindergartener. I'm one of those guys where if I can't get something within---at most----a month or two after ordering it I'd just as soon not bother. I have real problems with waiting...it's one of my really bad weaknesses and it sucks. lol! If my shipment of something kept getting delayed over and over again I'd be mighty tempted to just say "f it," cancel it and get my money refunded. I hope you can get the 1701-E one way or another and in mint or near-mint condition, AY. Keep checking eBay from time to time because you never know if a boxed Enterprise might pop up there for a lot less than $199.

K-Marts have marked their Vintage Collection B-Wing Fighters (a 2011 store exclusive) all the way down to $14.99, compared to the original $39.99 pricepoint when the ship was new. I picked up two of them from a local Big K yesterday for just $31.48 including sales tax. If any of you wanted or needed a new B-Wing, go check your local K-Mart(s). The $14.99 markdown is a national sale so even if your store hasn't put a sales tag on the shelf it should ring up for the correct price at the cash register.

So far I still haven't seen any TDKR figures at my local stores, but maybe I've just missed them. Anyways, have you guys heard about the figures for the new G.I. JOE movie? Since the studio delayed the film's release until next March(when the studio can release it in 3-D), Hasbro has announced that most of the toy line for the movie will be put on hold until then. The figures that have reached stores will be it for now, so if you want these things I suggest you grab them if and when you see them! Hasbro's new edict means that nothing else is to hit store shelves and pegs for another nine or ten months, so what little product is out there at the moment is going to be highly fought over.

How much money would a TDKR Alfred even be worth? What kind of scratch are eBay folks spending on the new figures? I know it's going to be a huge movie when it premieres, but the toy lines for most movies that don't have the words STAR, WARS, TOY or STORY in their titles just don't have that pizzazz or oomph that the Lucas stuff or Buzz Lightyear and his friends have. Look at the AVENGERS toys. I'm sure they're selling really well, but I hear very little about them in the toy community. 99% of the talk about AVENGERS is about the film itself and not the merchandise. It just doesn't have a shitload of appeal outside of diehard AVENGERS fans.

The real mojo and business remains with stuff like STAR WARS and, say, Sideshow Collectibles-level stuff. The aura around some action figures like Darth Malgus, Wedge or the Imperial Navy(Death Squad)Commander is just nothing short of epic with folks like my buddy who co-owns the toy shop. He'll happily take AVENGERS or Batman figures and do his best to sell them for a great and affordable price, but the real action right now is in acquiring harder-to-find SW figures both new and classic. He's happy when he gets an entire mint-on-card set of every THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA or Marvel Legends figure but the first two lines just don't sell well on the secondhand market at all...period. There's a chance he'll completely crap out on some stuff he gets even if the movie was a hit and relegate it all to the three- or four-for-$10 racks. With STAR WARS, the only stuff he can't seem to sell are the really bad and boring pegwarmers and older, not-as-well-made figures from past lines like, oh, say, the POTF2 R5-D4 or the more common Episode I figures most everyone already has. But give him a Malgus, Nom Anor, Darth Malak, TC-14, Jacen Solo or McQuarrie Concept Boba Fett and the dude will sell all that stuff pronto. Some of that stuff is like printing money because he can and will sell it all even if it's a $20 or $25 figure. Collectors will drive fifty miles or more to get an Ephant Mon or Darth Revan. And don't even ask about the original 1978 stuff he and his partners got in the shop over the years! That stuff disappeared faster than a cloaked Romulan Warbird. People want STAR WARS, old or new...so long as it's good.

New hi-res packaged photo of the upcoming Target-exclusive Darth Maul Returns Battle Pack based on THE CLONE WARS!
The more I look at this set the more I want it, so I hope Target gets enough of them to go around when it's finally released!

There's no announced date for release of this set as of right now but I'm guessing collectors are looking at a mid-to-late summer window for finding it in stores. Gotta love that Dathomir Nightsister...eerie and creepy stuff there!

How much money would a TDKR Alfred even be worth? What kind of scratch are eBay folks spending on the new figures? I know it's going to be a huge movie when it premieres, but the toy lines for most movies that don't have the words STAR, WARS, TOY or STORY in their titles just don't have that pizzazz or oomph that the Lucas stuff or Buzz Lightyear and his friends have. Look at the AVENGERS toys. I'm sure they're selling really well, but I hear very little about them in the toy community. 99% of the talk about AVENGERS is about the film itself and not the merchandise. It just doesn't have a shitload of appeal outside of diehard AVENGERS fans.

Click to expand...

Right now they are only going for a bit more than retail, depending on which retail you get them at I suppose. I see Alfred going for $27-35usd the past week. However nows not the time to sell them. You get a few, sit on them and in 6-8months when the line is over and there remains folks who don't have them you double or better your return on the figure.

I'm doing fine with my Avengers flipping. I don't do Star Wars, everyone seems to have a hand there. Market is heavily saturated. Just sold all 3 MU Hulks for $60, had less than $30 in them. Got the Target MU 2 packs at 75% off, sat on them and been selling those for 3x what I paid.

Over Christmas Target had the DC bobble head PoP figs. After X-Mas they were 90% off, got 4 of them for under $5 and just sold them yesterday for $29. Not too bad. My Ebay user name would look familiar if you found it.

The only people I have issues with are the so-called collectors who buy every figure on a store peg wall and sell them ALL on eBay or scalp them in person. If you're selling just one or a few of the stash you've purchased for your own collection and pleasure than that's fine. Lots of people trade and sell their stuff to try to turn a small profit or get something else that they don't own or might even be cooler.

It's the plunder-and-pillage store scalpers who buy fifteen figures, ships and/or vehicles and then put them all on eBay or on a table at a flea market for double or triple the retail price that piss me off. A few here and there isn't objectionable. Doing it regularly and with almost everything you buy is. If you're not supporting, feeding and clothing your family by scalping then you have no business doing it, but even then it comes off as shady and dirty.

I refer any that need to see it, see it again to this post.
Does that pic from that post on page 30 look like someone NOT collecting figures? That is a portion of the room, that entire guest bedroom is a freaking shrine to Marvel Comics. Maybe I'll take pics of the rest of the room just for shit's and giggles. It's something of a "catch-all" room though so that bookshelf represents the easiset pic to get.

Do I flip figures, you bet I do and I'm not ashamed of it. I bet Shinzon isn't either. Nothing illegal about it and if someone will pay it then I don't see the issue. Doesn't mean we aren't as "worthy" an action figure fan? No.

I have a standing order with an Ebay Store Seller who sends me a complete run of each MU line. One of each figure. That's one for me to add to my collection without fighting the pegs at retail.

Oh, Craig you misunderstood me my friend. I wasn't saying you were a scalper. I was talking about actual scalpers who raid and deplete stores of their figures and then sell most or all of them for a profit. Actual, textbook scalpers. If it sounded for one moment like my above post was directed at you in any way, shape or form then my humblest apologies. You seem cool and you're alright in my eyes. Sorry if it sounded otherwise.